Well there are three rounds of the British F3 season completed now and it’s not been a bad start to the 2011 campaign for me, although there have been some ups and downs along the way!

Pre-season testing turned out to be more difficult than we expected it to be and everyone within the Fortec team – myself included – had to work hard to turn things around before we headed to Monza for the opening round of the season.

We felt the tyres had changed quite a bit from last year and we had to adapt the set-up of our car to really get them working well. When you are out on track testing, you want to be the driver who is at the top of the times but at the same time, it is important to focus on yourself and doing the best job you can to make your own car go as quickly as possible.

It all came together at Monza and the hard work was rewarded with pole position. Everything looked really good but then there was an issue before the start and I was one of a number of drivers who had to start from pit-lane. It wasn’t as much of a problem as it would have been at a circuit like Oulton Park or Brands Hatch because you can overtake at Monza and I was able to come through the field to finish fourth, and then got my first podium of the season in race two with third.

In the final race I could only finish seventh but there was an incident that meant I got a grid penalty for Oulton Park and that really hurt me when we got there for round two as its difficult to overtake.

The penalty meant I finished outside the top ten in the first two races but in the final race, where I was able to start where I qualified, I managed to finish fifth – which I’d probably have taken ahead of the weekend with the penalty in place. Oulton isn’t a circuit that I’ve really clicked with in the past so at least I was able to come away with one decent result from the weekend.

When we then got to Snetterton, it all looked good after practice on Friday when we were third but I had a problem with the battery and also with a misfire in qualifying which affected my place on the grid. I used the reverse grid to get a good podium finish in the second race of the weekend but then got caught up in an accident at the start of race three which meant I failed to finish. That was doubly frustrating as I’d got a great start when the lights went out but then I got squeezed between two other cars and the suspension was damaged – putting me into the wall.

While it hasn’t been a bad start to the year, it’s not been the start I was hoping for but there is still a long way to go this season and I’m confident that we can turn things around and bring ourselves right back into the contention for the title. As a team, Fortec has shown it has the pace to be at the front of the field and we’ll keep working hard to push forwards.

Me, Lucas and Harry have all run near the front of the field and the three of us are working well as a team. We are good friends off the track but when we get into the cars and head to the grid, we want to beat each other as much as anyone else. There was a bit of a battle between me and Harry at Snetterton and we got close to each other a few times – it might have been a long season if we’d made contact!

So three rounds in, I feel I’m doing a good job behind the wheel although I also accept that it hasn’t been perfect and that I’ve made a few mistakes. My focus now is on working hard with Fortec to reach the top step of the podium and fight for the championship crown.

Until next time

Will

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